After initially being told to “police that moustache,” Marines in an infantry battalion based at Twentynine Palms, California can once again have a little bit of fuzz on their upper lips.
A Sept. 24 memo from 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, which ended up posted on the unofficial Marine subreddit page, announced that the battalion was implementing a mustache ban due to “repeated violations of male grooming standards regarding the authorized wear of mustaches.” A Marine official confirmed to Task & Purpose that the memo was genuine.
The action, which applied to all Marines and sailors in the battalion, was meant to “maintain good order and discipline,” the memo says.
However, the war against mustache hairs was short-lived.
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Lt. Col. Alex Lim, a 1st Marine Division spokesman confirmed the order was “quickly rescinded.”
“While the original intent of the order was to address repeated violations of Marine Corps grooming standards that negatively impact unit cohesion, professional appearance, and good order and discipline, the order exceeded the scope of the commander’s authority,” Lim told Task & Purpose. “Maintaining high standards of appearance, as outlined in MCO 1020.34H [Marine Corps Uniform Regulations] remains a priority.”
The now rescinded mustache ban is “unrelated” to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent announcement of new rules about grooming standards for facial hair, Lim said in response to a question from Task & Purpose.
Hegseth wrote in an Aug. 20 memo that service members who need waivers for shaving after more than a year of medical treatment could be separated.
“The grooming standard set by the U.S. military is to be clean shaven and neat in presentation for a proper military appearance,” Hegseth wrote. “When authorizing individual exceptions, commanders must apply consistent criteria and appropriately consider the Department’s interests in safety and uniformity.”
Grooming standards have long been one of the most important aspects of service members’ time in the military, along with keeping their hands out of their pockets and not walking on the grass. Haircuts, in fact, allegedly played a vital role in the Marines’ victory at Iwo Jima in World War II. At least that’s one theory.
Beyond dispute, though, is that the Marine Corps has always placed a premium on dress and appearance standards, as shown in the seminal HBO miniseries “Generation Kill.”
Even before Hegseth issued his guidance on shaving waivers, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith made clear that Marines would not be allowed to grow beards in the foreseeable future.
“Because we’re Marines and we’re different,” Smith said during a roundtable with reporters in January. “The Marine Corps has a brand, and we’re making our recruiting mission. We’ve always made our recruiting mission, and what we don’t want to do is tinker with the ethos of the Marine Corps — you joined us, we didn’t join you. You knew that coming in. You signed up. We don’t have beards, and you knew that coming in.”
